Deal to expand Medicaid still possible, some legislators say

Catherine Candisky, The Columbus Dispatch

Friday

Jun 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2013 at 11:37 AM

Under fire for going on summer recess without approving a Medicaid expansion, Republican legislative leaders said yesterday that work on a bill addressing the issue would continue through the summer with a vote likely in September.

Under fire for going on summer recess without approving a Medicaid expansion, Republican legislative leaders said yesterday that work on a bill addressing the issue would continue through the summer with a vote likely in September.

“It’s not dead,” said Rep. Barbara Sears, a Sylvania Republican and leading supporter of Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to provide tax-funded health coverage to an additional 275,000 poor Ohioans.

The first move is up to Kasich. To keep discussions alive, he apparently must veto a budget provision barring the Medicaid expansion. His administration then could prepare for an expansion as legislators work out a deal.

But House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, was careful not to call the developing plan a “Medicaid expansion,” stressing that the legislation being worked on would curb costs of the health-care program covering 2.3 million poor and disabled Ohioans and help recipients get back on their feet.

“(Medicaid) is pretty well out of hand, and we have to be able to control the cost,” Batchelder said. “Where it ends up, I’m not sure.”

A handful of Republicans and Democrats are expected to return to work on companion bills in the House and Senate after the July Fourth weekend. While Kasich’s Medicaid expansion is not part of those bills, Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, said the proposal could be added after costs and other issues are addressed.

Kasich had included the expansion in his budget proposal, but House Republicans stripped it.

“I wanted it now. I guess I’m an advocate, too,” Kasich said earlier. “At the end of the day, I think we’re likely to get it. ... We’ll keep pushing until we can get it done.”

In the House, Rep. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, and Amstutz, co-sponsor of the legislation, vowed to keep working on, saying, “It appears Republicans have decided to side with a few right-wing extremists.”

Batchelder and other opponents say expanding Medicaid will drive up the federal deficit, and they fear the government won’t come through with its promise of paying 100 percent of expansion costs for three years beginning Jan. 1 and 90 percent or more for the next seven years.

Rep. Jim Buchy, a Greenville Republican who has spoken against expansion, said consensus may yet be reached.

Democrats stressed that time is running out.

“Jan. 1 is when we are supposed to be ready to roll. For every delay, those are people we are losing and those are dollars that we are losing from the federal government,” said House Minority Leader Tracy Maxwell Heard, D-Columbus.

“We’re looking at 275,000 people we are trying to get covered, 28,000 potential additional jobs in health care, $13 billion from the federal government to assist us in this program, and anywhere from $60-$90 million in penalties for the small businesses in Ohio.”